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catscradle Jun. 28th, 2004 02:15 pm)
catscradle Jun. 28th, 2004 02:15 pm)Sort of a review. I'd like to give this a better commentary, but after a weekend of computer woes and virtually no sleep, my brain only sputtered out this attempt. I'm not going to post behind a cut tag because. . . hard to ruin the plot of a documentary. If you want to be surprised you're missing the point. So here it is:
I went to see this opening night at the Highland's Ranch theater in the Denver area. Highland's Ranch, for those that aren't familiar with the area, is what the world will look like after the Apocaplyse. To call it a neighborhood is like calling a parking lot a house for all the character it has. There are miles upon miles of houses around the half-million to million dollar range in price, all squeezed together so that you can't even fit a swing in the "backyard". There are no trees. None that I've ever been able to identify, at least. Perhaps a bush or two.
It's an ultra conservative area, so I was pleased that it decided to show the movie at all. It was, like many other places, a complete sell out. Very nice.
The documentary itself was good. That is to say, while I liked it, I felt that Bowling for Columbine was a superior film. It was edgier, I guess you could say. Though I can understand why Fahrenheit 9/11 was far more subduded. The stakes were higher. It was more important for Moore to be accurate than revel in his own wit.
After the film opens to Bush's absurd facial expressions as he's preparing to address the nation, it cuts to a blank screen. The audience here's the impact of the first plane into the World Trade Center. Then the next plane. He never shows it, and the blank screen has an effect just as powerful, if not more, of what happened on September 11, 2001. You then see the people watching the tragedy. The horror stricken faces of the people that can't beleive what they are seeing is real. I thought by now I might be immune to those images, but I think now that you just never get over that. I couldn't help crying then. And it wouldn't be the last time that night that the film moved me to tears.
All in all, if you've paid attention to the news and did a little of your own research, nothing you see in this film is very new. What Moore manages to do is make the news accessable to those who don't have time to find the articles buried in section D page 12, or located on the BBC. That the Bush family has close ties to the Bin Ladins and the Saudi royal family is not new. But when he pieces it all together in a linnear fashions and puts it in front of your face, it takes on a new light. Suddenly you remember hearing about that somewhere before.
In addition to the blasts at the Bush administration, Moore also shows the human side to what is happening. He documents the army recruiters heading towards the poorer sections of town to recruit the boys who can't afford a college education. He brings it close to home how many kids find the military an option when there is no work to be found. He says "They're willing to give their lives so that we can have our freedom. And all they ask in return is that we never send them into harms way unless it's to defend our country." They, like many of us, just want to find a means to live. One boy at a community center says, "Why do we have to risk our lives just so we can go to college?"
One of the assumptions the film makes, is that a poor economy leads to more kids signing up for the military. I'm not sure that there is a link between the President's lack of concern over the economy and a jump in the enlistments for the military, but it does make you wonder.
The second and third moments I cried during the film was watching the two mothers. One from Flint, Michigan and the other from Iraq. Both calling on God and sobbing for the deaths in their family from the war. Moore shows the costs on both sides in such a way that you will equally grieve for both.
Moore is also adamant that we need to look at the soldiers with compassion. When he films the misconduct going on between the soldiers and the Iraqi prisoners, he's quick to point out "what can you expect from otherwise good kids when their leaders act dishonestly with aggression and violence?"
Concerning the R rating, I'm divided. On one hand, I can certainly understand Moore's point of view: the kids that are 15, 16, 17 right now will be the ones getting drafted. They're the ones that need to see this film. On the other hand, some of the images from Iraq are extremely graphic and difficult to watch. At the same time, why sanitize what's happening there? Should we keep kids from seeing up close what war is about? The more I think on it, the more I think a PG-13 rating would have been sufficient.
Overall, I think Moore did a great job bringing the abuses of the Bush administration to the masses. That the consevative factions in the US were the prime promoters of the film is poetic justice at it's finest.
I went to see this opening night at the Highland's Ranch theater in the Denver area. Highland's Ranch, for those that aren't familiar with the area, is what the world will look like after the Apocaplyse. To call it a neighborhood is like calling a parking lot a house for all the character it has. There are miles upon miles of houses around the half-million to million dollar range in price, all squeezed together so that you can't even fit a swing in the "backyard". There are no trees. None that I've ever been able to identify, at least. Perhaps a bush or two.
It's an ultra conservative area, so I was pleased that it decided to show the movie at all. It was, like many other places, a complete sell out. Very nice.
The documentary itself was good. That is to say, while I liked it, I felt that Bowling for Columbine was a superior film. It was edgier, I guess you could say. Though I can understand why Fahrenheit 9/11 was far more subduded. The stakes were higher. It was more important for Moore to be accurate than revel in his own wit.
After the film opens to Bush's absurd facial expressions as he's preparing to address the nation, it cuts to a blank screen. The audience here's the impact of the first plane into the World Trade Center. Then the next plane. He never shows it, and the blank screen has an effect just as powerful, if not more, of what happened on September 11, 2001. You then see the people watching the tragedy. The horror stricken faces of the people that can't beleive what they are seeing is real. I thought by now I might be immune to those images, but I think now that you just never get over that. I couldn't help crying then. And it wouldn't be the last time that night that the film moved me to tears.
All in all, if you've paid attention to the news and did a little of your own research, nothing you see in this film is very new. What Moore manages to do is make the news accessable to those who don't have time to find the articles buried in section D page 12, or located on the BBC. That the Bush family has close ties to the Bin Ladins and the Saudi royal family is not new. But when he pieces it all together in a linnear fashions and puts it in front of your face, it takes on a new light. Suddenly you remember hearing about that somewhere before.
In addition to the blasts at the Bush administration, Moore also shows the human side to what is happening. He documents the army recruiters heading towards the poorer sections of town to recruit the boys who can't afford a college education. He brings it close to home how many kids find the military an option when there is no work to be found. He says "They're willing to give their lives so that we can have our freedom. And all they ask in return is that we never send them into harms way unless it's to defend our country." They, like many of us, just want to find a means to live. One boy at a community center says, "Why do we have to risk our lives just so we can go to college?"
One of the assumptions the film makes, is that a poor economy leads to more kids signing up for the military. I'm not sure that there is a link between the President's lack of concern over the economy and a jump in the enlistments for the military, but it does make you wonder.
The second and third moments I cried during the film was watching the two mothers. One from Flint, Michigan and the other from Iraq. Both calling on God and sobbing for the deaths in their family from the war. Moore shows the costs on both sides in such a way that you will equally grieve for both.
Moore is also adamant that we need to look at the soldiers with compassion. When he films the misconduct going on between the soldiers and the Iraqi prisoners, he's quick to point out "what can you expect from otherwise good kids when their leaders act dishonestly with aggression and violence?"
Concerning the R rating, I'm divided. On one hand, I can certainly understand Moore's point of view: the kids that are 15, 16, 17 right now will be the ones getting drafted. They're the ones that need to see this film. On the other hand, some of the images from Iraq are extremely graphic and difficult to watch. At the same time, why sanitize what's happening there? Should we keep kids from seeing up close what war is about? The more I think on it, the more I think a PG-13 rating would have been sufficient.
Overall, I think Moore did a great job bringing the abuses of the Bush administration to the masses. That the consevative factions in the US were the prime promoters of the film is poetic justice at it's finest.
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I'm glad Moore presented this documentary, and all. But it's just too much for me.
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